Archive for May 16th, 2008
Comcast upgrade works. Now I get as high as 22 Mbps down and 3 Mbps up. The numbers fall off when you go overseas. Apple rolling out 4 more non-exclusive iPhone deals. Yahoo being sued. It decided to conceal details for some unknown reason. Missouri woman now indicted for cyberbullying. Comcast still being accused of throttling bit-torrent. Sprint says 2008 WiMax. Yeah, right. I like the Aliph Jawbone. ASUS making all its motherboards "instant on!" Wow.
Click to listen:
Gamespot released information on the new release of GH4 which on hand shamelessly copies Rockband giving people the option of playing drums, guitar or singing…
The more innovative aspect, and why this is newsworthy, is that GH4 will allow you to make and share your own music via a “Guitar Hero Tunes” store from which others can download them. Uploading will be limited to 5 of your own original songs (no vocals allowed), and if enough people like them and download them, you get “signed” and then you can upload even more songs.
Previously the song downloading has been limited to PS3 and xBox360, but now with the song sharing, they will open the doors to the Wii and the PS2.
Of course, while there is a lot of detail, and Activision doesn’t seem to be refuting any of this, there are still no screen shots, or anything to concretely back this up. However, there are pics of the new Guitar Hero 4 drum kits, which are pretty cool, since they feature actual cymbals, making the game play that much more realistic.
Ok.. Chalk this up as a rumor, and take it with a grain of salt, but [ The Dr. and Mrs. Who net radio show ] has purported the following rumors ..
Caprica will likely get the green light to go to series before the pilot is broadcast.
There will be three Battlestar Galactica TV movies produced after the series wraps. These films will go straight to DVD like Razor last year. Many of the current cast are willing to appear in them.
This also follows announcements that Ronald Moore has signed a 3 movie deal with United Artists. Connection? We can hope.
Other reports have stated :
According to one source at the network, the talk about the films is just idle chatter “at this point.” But several other sources close to the show says there is good reason for “cautious optimism” about one to three future “Battlestar” films, which would get made this summer, if they get the green light.
“Nothing’s etched in stone yet,” one source said – creative decisions haven’t been fully fleshed out and the casts have not been locked in.
Battlestar Galactica is currently airing the first 10 episodes of its fourth and final season, which will go on a half season break in the first weeks of June. Production is underway on the last 10 episode of the show and the final scenes for the series finale will be shot in June. Production could get under way on the TV movies as early as July, and one source says the films could get the green light in the next two weeks or so.
At this point, it’s not known when those last 10 episodes of BSG will air. Informed sources say that a decision on that won’t get made until mid-summer, so my guess is that SciFi won’t show the final 10 episodes until 2009, although that would really suck, I am hoping that better judgment will prevail and they will start showing them with the Fall 2008 startup.
This is huge news though, and if true, means that we may have tasty new BSG content over the next couple of years.
SO SAY WE ALL!
Just one day after [ instituting a policy ] of one [ iPhone ] sale per customer, [ AT&T ] said Thursday that it has discontinued the policy both on its Web site and in its retail stores.
Customers will now be able to buy three iPhones per person, a limit that the carrier enacted when the device first went on sale almost a year ago. Apparently AT&T has decided that they do in fact have enough inventory to leave the three phone per person limit in place.
“Our No. 1 concern is to make sure that every customer who wants an iPhone gets one,” an AT&T spokesman said. “We thought yesterday that the fairest way to do that was to limit customers to one iPhone. Then we realized that we have sufficient inventory to go back to our original policy.”
Apple iPhone’s have been running out all over in the US and UK, and apple.com is not selling them online at all anymore, stating that they are out of stock.
All of this smacks of the upcoming 3G release, and while all of this makes me hate AT&T even more then normal, I am happy to see the trail leading directly to 3G iPhones.
There is no current information on when AT&T will change it’s mind again, but we are sure it won’t take long.
As an avid BSG fan, and an aspiring maker, I am looking forward to seeing the response to SciFi, Dvice, and Make Magazine’s [ "Make a Cylon Contest" ]
There are all sorts of cylons, and really the only real requirement is the red eye and that it be a “mechanical” creation..
Since the Air Force is intent on creating SkyNet these days, it won’t be long before our new Cylon overlords are marching through the streets, and it may behoove you to have your own for home defense. 
Next-generation large-screen display manufacturer [ Shinoda Plasma ] has unveiled a flexible, 1-millimeter thick, 125-inch film-type prototype display that can be used as a curved or wrap-around screen.
Weighing in at 3.6 kilograms (8 lbs), or about 10 times less than a conventional plasma display, this screen promises to have some very cool implications. Advertising being the most obvious, but wrapping the corner of my living room with this baby and playing Call of Duty 4 seems about right too. Digital art, and even digital wallpaper for the super rich will likely become a fad based from this as well.
The resolution is going to need some work since it currently only offers a resolution of 960 x 360, but that will likely increase to HD quality in a very short time.
The price tag is high, and you know the old saying, “if you have to ask, you can’t afford it.” If you would like to see it, the Japanese company will be showing it off in June at the InfoComm 2008 conference in Las Vegas. They are also indicating that 150″ version will be in limited production in late autumn, so start saving your change.
The very first telephone directory, dated November 1878 from Connecticut, will be auctioned off on June 17th.
Aside from it being 20 pages, even I could rip this one in half, and being a single coil bound pamphlet style book, the first 8 pages are dedicated to instructions on how to talk on the phone …
Quotes from [ Daily Mail UK ] :
“Never take the telephone off the hook unless you wish to use it.
“Should you wish to speak to another subscriber you should commence the conversation by saying ‘Hulloa!’.
“When you are done talking, say ‘That is all’.
“The person spoken to should say ‘OK’.”
There is further guidance for subscribers, many of whom would have been very nervous about speaking into the new-fangled device.
“While talking, always speak low and distinct, and let the telephone rest lightly against your upper lip, leaving the lower lip and jaw free.”
Callers were no allowed to use the phone for more than three minutes at a time, or more than twice in an hour, without asking for special permission from the “main office.”
One more word of warning: “Any person using profane or otherwise improper language should be reported at this office immediately.
I think the parents of the teenage girls throughout America wish that the 3 minute rule would be enforced again.
The phonebook is on auction June 17th and is expected to fetch upwards of $30,000 - $60,000.
“That is all”
When I first heard that they were going to make yet another Terminator movie, I wanted to find the guy that green lighted that project and uh .. well… do this:
Of course, as time has gone by, and I have heard more about the movie, I am actually getting pretty excited about it. First of all , Christian Bale as John Conner.. ROCK ON! That is just a slice awesome that I wholeheartedly support.
I am not thrilled by McG being the director, but I am not overly concerned either. While his previous directorial projects have been a little different then the Terminator franchise (Charlie’s Angels) and a lot of people truly despise those movies, I actually felt like he captured the essence that was Charlie’s Angels. Campy, a little humor and hot chicks kicking ass…
I believe he will understand the responsibility behind making this movie and do a good job with it.
The other part of this that I am really getting behind, is that while this is a sequel, it will totally feel like a prequel. We are going to the next step in the story, the post apocalyptic horror unleashed by SkyNet and the struggle of humanity to stave off complete extinction. No more of this, “we can fix the future” nonsense. It will feel like a prequel since we are getting the full version of a story that we heard in the first two movies, and saw parts of in flashback sequences with Kyle Reese. I am also happy that they are not going to try and slip in more advanced terminators and hope we forget that they would have just used those in the first movie if they were available. This movie will feature the first incarnation of SkyNet’s army of cyborgs and with Christian Bale at the helm of the resistance… well that spells winner for me.